UTA Sues Ex-Relativity TV CEO for Unpaid Commissions

UTA is suing television producer and former Relativity TV CEO Tom Forman for breach of contract, claiming he hasn't paid commissions since dropping the agency in the fall of 2015.

The agency says Forman, whose credits include Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Guy's Grocery Games and Limitless, agreed to a "standard oral talent agency agreement" in 2008. Under the deal, Forman agreed to pay UTA a 10 percent commission on "any and all sums" he or his production company received with respect to his services as a producer in the entertainment industry on any deal entered into or negotiated during his tenure with the agency, according to the complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

"In other words, Defendants agreed to pay commissions on all of Forman's Earnings already received or to be received in the future for the duration of any employment that began, was agreed, or that was substantially negotiated while Plaintiff was Forman's talent agency, regardless of whether Forman receives the money or performs the services before or after Plaintiff's discharge as talent agency," writes UTA lawyer Bryan Freedman.

Forman notified UTA in October 2015 that he was terminating the agency — and it claims it hasn't received a dime from him since.

UTA is suing for breach of oral contract, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit and is seeking a declaration of its rights under its agreement with Forman and an accounting of all money he's made from deals secured by the agency.

“UTA’s lawsuit against Tom Forman is overreaching in the extreme," Forman's attorney, Michael Kump, told The Hollywood Reporter. "It is UTA that owes Tom, not vice versa. When Tom was a client of UTA, the agency grossly overcharged him and failed to provide him with an adequate explanation of the basis on which it was charging him, or an accounting supporting the commissions. UTA’s commission practices were never consistent with the parties’ agreement or custom and practice within the industry. To make matters worse, UTA is also now seeking to commission two employment agreements that UTA had nothing to do with and that Tom entered into after terminating UTA as his personal agent. We look forward to exposing UTA’s conduct and recovering what Tom is owed.”